Abstract [en]

This paper gives a brief overview of common non-invasive techniques for body composition analysis and a more in-depth review of a body composition assessment method based on fat-referenced quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Earlier published studies of this method are summarized, and a previously un-published validation study, based on 4.753 subjects from the UK Biobank imaging cohort, comparing the quantitative MRI method with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is presented. For whole-body measurements of adipose tissue (AT) or fat and lean tissue (LT), DXA and quantitative MRI show excellent agreement with linear correlation of 0.99 and 0.97, and coefficient of variation (CV) of 4.5 % and 4.6 % for fat (computed from AT) and lean tissue respectively, but the agreement was found significantly lower for visceral adipose tissue, with a CV of more than 20 %. The additional ability of MRI to also measure muscle volumes, muscle AT infiltration and ectopic fat in combination with rapid scanning protocols and efficient image analysis tools make quantitative MRI a powerful tool for advanced body composition assessment.

Abstract [en]

Atlas-based segmentation is often used to segment medical image regions. For intensity-normalized data, the quality of these segmentations is highly dependent on the similarity between the atlas and the target under the used registration method. We propose a geodesic registration method for interactive atlas-based segmentation using empirical multi-scale anatomical manifolds. The method utilizes unlabeled images together with the labeled atlases to learn empirical anatomical manifolds. These manifolds are defined on distinct scales and regions and are used to propagate the labeling information from the atlases to the target along anatomical geodesics. The resulting competing segmentations from the different manifolds are then ranked according to an image-based similarity measure. We used image volumes acquired using magnetic resonance imaging from 36 subjects. The performance of the method was evaluated using a liver segmentation task. The result was then compared to the corresponding performance of direct segmentation using Dice Index statistics. The method shows a significant improvement in liver segmentation performance between the proposed method and direct segmentation. Furthermore, the standard deviation in performance decreased significantly. Using competing complementary manifolds defined over a hierarchy of region of interests gives an additional improvement in segmentation performance compared to the single manifold segmentation.

Abstract [en]

Fruit has since long been advocated as a healthy source of many nutrients, however, the high content of sugars in fruit might be a concern.

Objectives

To study effects of an increased fruit intake compared with similar amount of extra calories from nuts in humans.

Methods

Thirty healthy non-obese participants were randomized to either supplement the diet with fruits or nuts, each at +7 kcal/kg bodyweight/day for two months. Major endpoints were change of hepatic fat content (HFC, by magnetic resonance imaging, MRI), basal metabolic rate (BMR, with indirect calorimetry) and cardiovascular risk markers.

Results

Weight gain was numerically similar in both groups although only statistically significant in the group randomized to nuts (fruit: from 22.15±1.61 kg/m2 to 22.30±1.7 kg/m2, p = 0.24 nuts: from 22.54±2.26 kg/m2 to 22.73±2.28 kg/m2, p = 0.045). On the other hand BMR increased in the nut group only (p = 0.028). Only the nut group reported a net increase of calories (from 2519±721 kcal/day to 2763±595 kcal/day, p = 0.035) according to 3-day food registrations. Despite an almost three-fold reported increased fructose-intake in the fruit group (from 9.1±6.0 gram/day to 25.6±9.6 gram/day, p<0.0001, nuts: from 12.4±5.7 gram/day to 6.5±5.3 gram/day, p = 0.007) there was no change of HFC. The numerical increase in fasting insulin was statistical significant only in the fruit group (from 7.73±3.1 pmol/l to 8.81±2.9 pmol/l, p = 0.018, nuts: from 7.29±2.9 pmol/l to 8.62±3.0 pmol/l, p = 0.14). Levels of vitamin C increased in both groups while α-tocopherol/cholesterol-ratio increased only in the fruit group.

Conclusions

Although BMR increased in the nut-group only this was not linked with differences in weight gain between groups which potentially could be explained by the lack of reported net caloric increase in the fruit group. In healthy non-obese individuals an increased fruit intake seems safe from cardiovascular risk perspective, including measurement of HFC by MRI.

Healthy non-selected participants were randomized to achieve cold-exposure 1 hour/day, or to avoid any sense of feeling cold, for 6 weeks. Metabolic rate (MR) was measured by indirect calorimetry before and after acute cold-exposure with cold vests and ingestion of cold water. The BAT volumes in the supraclavicular region were measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Results

Twenty-eight participants were recruited, 12 were allocated to controls and 16 to cold-exposure. Two participants in the cold group dropped out and one was excluded. Both the non-stimulated and the cold-stimulated MR were lowered within the group randomized to avoid cold (MR at room temperature from 1841 ± 199 kCal/24 h to 1795 ± 213 kCal/24 h, p = 0.047 cold-activated MR from 1900 ± 150 kCal/24 h to 1793 ± 215 kCal/24 h, p = 0.028). There was a trend towards increased MR at room temperature following the intervention in the cold-group (p = 0.052). The difference between MR changes by the interventions between groups was statistically significant (p = 0.008 at room temperature, p = 0.032 after cold-activation). In an on-treatment analysis after exclusion of two participants that reported ≥ 8 days without cold-exposure, supraclavicular BAT volume had increased in the cold-exposure group (from 0.0175 ± 0.015 l to 0.0216 ± 0.014 l, p = 0.049).

Conclusions

We found evidence for plasticity in metabolic rate by avoiding to freeze compared with cold-exposure in a randomized setting in non-selected humans.

Bell, Jimmy

Abstract [en]

Water-fat separated MRI, based on Dixon imaging techniques enables high soft-tissue contrast and the separation of fat and muscle compartments. This study investigate the feasibility and success-rate of one recently described method for MR data-acquisition and body composition analysis, in a large-scale population study. The first 1,000 subjects in the UK Biobank imaging cohort were scanned, quality assured and included for body composition analysis. Volumes of visceral adipose tissue, abdominal subcutaneous tissue, and thigh muscles were calculated. This study showed that the rapid MR-examination was sufficiently robust to achieve very high success-rate for body composition analysis.

Abstract [en]

Purpose: To investigate the precision, accuracy, and repeatability of water/fat imaging-based fat quantification in muscle tissue using a large flip angle (FA) and a fat reference for the calculation of the proton density fat fraction (FF). Comparison is made to a small FA water reference approach. Materials and Methods: An Intralipid phantom and both forearms of six patients suffering from lymphedema and 10 healthy volunteers were investigated at 1.5T. Two multigradient-echo sequences with eight echo times and FAs of 10 degrees and 85 degrees were acquired. For healthy volunteers, the acquisition of the right arm was performed twice with repositioning. From each set, water reference FF and fat reference FF images were reconstructed and the average FF and the standard deviation were calculated within the subfascial compartment. The small FA water reference was considered the reference standard. Results: A high agreement was found between the small FA water reference and large FA fat reference methods (FF bias=0.31%). In this study, the large FA fat reference approach also resulted in higher precision (38% smaller FF standard deviation in homogenous muscle tissue), but no significant difference in repeatability between the various methods was detected (coefficient of repeatability of small FA water reference approach 0.41%). Conclusion: The precision of fat quantification in muscle tissue can be increased with maintained accuracy using a larger flip angle, if a fat reference instead of a water reference is used.

Sirlin, Claude B.

Abstract [en]

To address the problems inherent in manual methods, a novel, semi-automated tissue segmentation image analysis technique has been developed. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility and describe preliminary observations of applying this technique to quantify and monitor longitudinal changes in abdominal adipose tissue and thigh muscle volume in obese adults during weight loss. Abdominal adipose tissue and thigh muscle volume decreased during weight loss. As a proportion of body weight, adipose tissue volumes decreased during weight loss. By comparison, as a proportion of body weight, thigh muscle volume increased.

Tunón, Patrik

Szeverenyi, Nick

Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.

Hamilton, Gavin

Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.

Wolfson, Tanya

Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States; Computational and Applied Statistics Laboratory (CASL), University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.

Gamst, Anthony

Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States; Computational and Applied Statistics Laboratory (CASL), University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.

Loomba, Rohit

Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.

Sirlin, Claude B.

Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA, United States.

Abstract [en]

Current MRI methods to estimate body tissue compartment volumes rely on manual segmentation, which is laborious, expensive, not widely available outside specialized centers, and not standardized. To address these concerns, a novel, semi-automated image analysis method has been developed. Image acquisition takes about six minutes, and uses widely available MRI pulse sequences. We found that this method permits comprehensive body compartment analysis and provides high repeatability and accuracy. Current and future clinical and drug development studies may benefit from this methodology, as may clinical settings where monitoring change in these measures is desired.

Abstract [en]

Purpose

To measure the test–retest reliability of rapid (<15 min) whole body and visceral fat volume quantification in normal and obese subjects on a widebore 3T MR system and compare it with conventional manual segmentation.

The mean TAT was 31.74 L with a coefficient of variation (CV) of 0.79% and a coefficient of repeatability (CR) of 0.49 L. The ASAT was 7.92 L with a CV of 2.98% and a CR of 0.46 L. There was no significant difference in the semiautomated and manually segmented VAT (P = 0.73) but there were differences in the reliability of the two techniques. The mean semiautomated VAT was 2.56 L, CV 1.8%, and CR 0.09 L compared to the mean manually segmented VAT of 3.12 L, where the CV was 6.3% and the CR was 0.39 L.

Conclusion

Rapid semiautomated whole body and compartmental fat volume quantification can be derived from a widebore 3T system, for a range of body sizes including obese patients, with “almost perfect” test–retest reliability.

Abstract [en]

This study tested how the flip angle affects body composition analysis by MRI, if adipose tissue is used as an internal intensity reference. Whole-body water-fat images with flip angle 5° and 10° were collected from 29 women in an ongoing study. The images were calibrated based on the adipose tissue signal and whole-body total adipose, lean and soft tissue volumes were measured. A mean difference of 0.29 L, or 0.90 % of the average volume, and a coefficient of variation of 0.40 % was observed for adipose tissue.